Kelly Holmin, 12, became the youngest person to shoot a moose in Minnesota when she bagged this bull near the Gunflint Trail on Tuesday, Oct. 13, 2009. Holmin is a seventh grader from Nicollet, Minn. The Minnesota recently lowered the mininum hunting age for moose to 12 years old. She and her father hunted for seven days along the Gunflint Trail before they saw the bull. they lived in a camper in the woods during the hunt. Photo courtesy of Jeff Holmin.

A moose is seen after Paul Sundberg of Grand Marais, Minnesota, made a series of cow grunt calls using a megaphone-shaped Fiberglass cone. (Paul Sundberg/Duluth News-Tribune/MCT)

Minnesota will have a limited moose hunt this fall, officials announced today, Tuesday, March 27, 2012. Unlike the cow pictured here, the DNR tribes currently allow only bulls to be killed by hunters.

Minnesota hunters will still have the chance to shoot moose this fall, state officials announced Tuesday, March 27.

The moose population remains in steady decline, but scientists and wildlife managers agree that a limited hunt of males would not significantly change the number of animals because there are plenty of bulls to impregnate cows.

The decision by the Department of Natural Resources to issue 87 moose tags – a reduction from past years – comes as adult moose continue to die off faster than young moose are growing into their ranks. The current population in the northeastern part of the state is estimated, based on aerial surveys, at 4,230 animals, down from 4,900 last year and 8,840 in 2006.

Scientists aren’t sure what’s causing the iconic mammals of the North Woods to die off, although parasites, possibly linked to summer heat spells, are suspected. Some of the parasites are carried by deer, and the interplay between climate change, changes in forest ecology and white-tailed deer numbers remains a focus of researchers.

They do agree that hunting, given the limited number of males shot and killed, is not a major factor. Nevertheless, officials had considered not holding a hunt this year, given their fear that the population could be heading toward zero within decades.

“Even though hunting is not causing the decline, it makes sense to reduce hunting pressure in an orderly manner if the population continues to decline,” Peterson said.

Peterson, a research professor at Michigan Technological University in Houghton, Mich., has opposed a plan to open Michigan’s 20- to 30-year-old moose herd of 600 to hunting. The difference, he said, is that Minnesota has a history and tradition of hunting moose that Michigan lacks.

“If you don’t have a moose season, this is not the time to start one,” Peterson said in a conference call Tuesday. “But if you already have one, you have reasons to keep it going.”

The only people who can hunt moose in Minnesota are state residents 10 and older and members of three bands of the Minnesota Chippewa: Bois Forte, Fond du Lac and Grand Portage.

The DNR’s 87 permits are projected to result in 50 moose – all bulls – being shot and killed. The three bands of Chippewa are projected to shoot about 30 moose, including a handful of cows, DNR officials said.

Last year, the DNR issued more than 100 tags, but fewer parties chose to hunt because of obstacles associated with the Pagami Creek Fire that burned a stretch of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. In the end, 92 state-licensed hunters killed 53 male moose.

The Chippewa, whose rights are protected by an 1854 treaty, killed 31 moose, including “six or so” females, said Lou Cornicelli, the DNR’s wildlife research program manager.

The DNR issues permits only to people who have never received a tag before, making it a once-in-a-lifetime hunt.

This fall, the DNR will close two of the 30 moose-hunting zones. Those zones, north and northwest of Isabella, are along the southern edge of the BWCA Wilderness, where fires burned last year. Hunters had low success rates in those zones.

The DNR’s decision to continue the hunt is based on a key population measure outlined in a moose management plan released by the DNR last year: the bull-to-cow ratio.

“The bull-to-cow ratio is well above the identified threshold and at the highest level since 2006,” said Erik Thorson, the DNR’s acting big-game program leader.

Cornicelli said that since 2001, researchers have documented a consistent 80 percent pregnancy rate among cows.

Despite widely held suspicions that wolves are the culprits in the moose decline, scientists studying moose in the Upper Midwest have consistently maintained that’s not the case, even though wolves do eat moose.

Peterson said that in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, where deep snow aids wolves in chasing down deer, the relatively sparse year-round population of deer in the moose range appears to have benefited the moose by reducing exposure to brainworms and liver flukes carried by deer.

“In that sense, wolves can be a moose’s best friend because they tend to keep deer away from moose,” Peterson said.

Dave Orrick reports on state government and politics from the Pioneer Press' Capitol Bureau. When the occasion demands, he's been known to cover topics ranging from hunting to golf. He lives in St. Paul with his wife and son.

As you comment, please be respectful of other commenters and other viewpoints. Our goal with article comments is to provide a space for civil, informative and constructive conversations. We reserve the right to remove any comment we deem to be defamatory, rude, insulting to others, hateful, off-topic or reckless to the community. See our full terms of use here.

More in Sports

Falling behind used to be a nuisance for the Minnesota Wild before it became a crisis, a trend that is pushing them further out of playoff contention as the season grinds to the Christmas milepost. San Jose scored twice in a 29-second span midway through the second period to break open a tight game and send the...

In the midst of the best season of his career, Vikings defensive end Danielle Hunter has been named to Pro Bowl for the first time in his career. He highlights the Vikings’ Pro Bowl selections, which also include linebacker Anthony Barr, safety Harrison Smith and wide receiver Adam Thielen.

Joe Mauer walked up to the podium at his alma mater and said one word, in the most Joe Mauer way. "Wow," he said. Everyone knew the Minnesota Twins were going to retire the No. 7 at some point. The all-star, MVP, batting champ and maybe one-day Hall of Famer deserved as much. But how would they do it? The...

Gophers football assistant coach Marcus West was skeptical he would be able to recruit defensive tackle Rashad Cheney out of the state of Georgia. But during a visit to Cedar Grove High School outside Atlanta, Cheney’s head coach Jermaine Smith assured West there was a distinct chance the Gophers could net the four-star recruit, who had pledged to the Georgia...

Moments after the completion of the National Anthem prior tothe Timberwolves' win over Sacramento on Monday night, rookie Josh Okogie ran to the hoop, jumped up and did a pull-up on the rim. It’s the type of action that comes as no surprise to his teammates. “He’s literally like that, it could be on the plane at two in the morning, it...